Green Ronin’s Dragon Age RPG, based on the Dragon Age: Origins video game from BioWare (see “Green Ronin to Publish ‘Dragon Age RPG’”), will hit stores in September. 

Green Ronin’s Chris Pramas divulged several details about the upcoming game, including a sneak peek at its mechanics and rules, in an interview earlier this week on GameBanshee.com. 

Described as a return to fantasy role-playing’s “dark and gritty roots,” the Dragon Age RPG has been in development for about a year and will feature three classes – rogue, mage, and warrior – and a level system, matching the video game’s character development options. Skill resolution uses three six-sided dice and a modifier based on the character’s ability, and a spell-point system replaces the Vancian magic of the video game.

The first release of the Dragon Age RPG will be a boxed set that contains two rulebooks (a Player’s Guide and GM’s Guide), a poster map of Ferelden, and three six-sided dice. The base set covers character development from levels one to five, with later sets expanding character development in bunches of five levels (6-10, 11-15, and 16-20). The boxed set retails for $29.95.

Like many of BioWare’s previous games (Knights of the Old Republic, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect), Dragon Age: Origins offers considerable flexibility in its character development, with different game effects and storylines for selecting characters with different backgrounds. The game will be released for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation3 in Q3/Q4 2009.